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1. Xavier Setup

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Raf edited this page May 17, 2019 · 3 revisions

Parts

  1. Jetson Xavier - Main computer.
  2. Stereolabs Zed Camera - Depth camera used for position tracking.
  3. RPLIDAR A3 - Low cost lidar, good for outdoor use (25m)
  4. Roboclaw 2x30A - Motor Controller
  5. Wild Thumper 6WD - 6 Wheel off road chassis.

Preparing the Xavier

Once you receive your Xavier or other device a bit of preparation is required, in this part of the setup you will need to go through the following steps.

  1. Flashing the Jetson Xavier with Jetpack
  2. Installing the NVMe SSD
  3. Optimization of system

Flashing Jetpack

Once you receive your Xavier one of the key things you need to do to get up and running is install Jetpack. Jetpack is Nvidia's package that installs Ubuntu and all the tools you need on the Xavier that enable it to run, without this you won't be able to do much.

  1. The first thing you must do is prepare a desktop or laptop device that runs Ubuntu 18.04 or higher. Systems lower than 18.04 will be unable to flash the latest version of Jetpack to the device.
  2. Next you must boot your system, and go to the Nvidia website and find the latest installer for Jetpack and download it. (This file will a .run file)
  3. Now that you have the installer you will need to do the following steps.

mkdir ~/Downloads/JPInstall

cd /Downloads/JPInstall

sudo chmod 777 Jetpack-{some version}.run

./Jetpack-{some version}.run

Once you run the last command the installation menu will show up and from there you just have to follow the install instructions. Keep in mind that Jetpack will install sources such as Tensorflow, OpenCV and other important sources, these do take up some space so once you finish the installation you can remove the JPInstall folder and everything will be removed on the host system.

Install the NVMe SSD

Follow this guide written by Ramin Nabati or this video by Jetson hacks on how to install the SSD.

Medium.com NVMe SSD Install

Jetson Hacks NVMe Install

System Optimization

Once you have the whole Xavier up and running you should install Raffaello Bonghis Jetson Easy tool. With this tool you will be able to install all the tools you need and cleanup junk that's pre installed. Below I will list what you should have enabled, some stuff I added to his repo to help and I suggest you install these items as well, but I will mark them as optional.

Mandatory

  1. Jetson Performance Service
  2. Zed Camera SDK
  3. All system fixes (including OpenCV fix)
  4. Remove junk programs
  5. Upgrade distributions
  6. Install V4L (Video For Linux)

Optional

  1. Nano (recommended if you tend to work without a monitor and more using SSH)
  2. Visual Studio (recommended)
  3. RTABMAP (If you decide to use RTABMAP for path planning, this build is designed to work on the Jetson specifically)
  4. Guake (Highly recommended, it's the terminal but its a drop down one that you can quickly pull up and hide with F12)
  5. Synergy (Highly recommended, allows you to share a mouse between systems)
  6. Iftop (Network tool)

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